Broncos Meet Their Napoleon

By T.J. SIMERS

Oct. 20, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND —

In exposing Denver’s most glaring weakness, Napoleon Kaufman not only shredded the Bronco defense for a team-record 227 yards Sunday at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, but also resurrected the downtrodden Raiders with a 28-25 victory before 57,006.

The Raiders (3-4), the mutts of the AFC West, sent whimpering into their bye week after being humiliated by the Chargers two weeks ago, arose to knock off the NFL’s last undefeated team seven weeks into the season.

The Broncos (6-1), winners of 20 of their last 24 regular-season games, have once again been exposed as frauds when it comes to being considered a great teams, betrayed by their defense’s soft belly.

The Broncos obviously have Super Bowl aspirations, but without major adjustments up front, they might as well plan for a weekend of skiing when the Super Bowl takes place in San Diego.

A year ago they lost an AFC divisional playoff game after running out to a 13-3 regular-season record because they could not stop Jacksonville’s running game. The Broncos allowed the Jaguars an average gain of 5.6 yards in tumbling, 30-27, at Mile High Stadium, and in a repeat performance against the Raiders, they surrendered 7.6 yards a rush.

Kaufman alone ran for 8.1 yards a carry, and he’s no bigger than the ball boy.

“We made them look too good today,” said Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski, left behind eating the turf as Kaufman sped by. “We’ve got to change that. We didn’t stop him, and no running back should run for that many yards against this defense.”

Wrong. If there’s any defense to be trampled in this league, it is Denver’s. The Broncos went into the game ranked No. 30 in the NFL, surrendering 5.3 yards a rush, but had successfully hidden the shortcoming with an explosive offense featuring John Elway and Terrell Davis.

“We knew coming into the game that people have made some good long runs against Denver’s defense,” Oakland Coach Joe Bugel said. “We went into the game thinking we had to have Napoleon outrush Terrell Davis.”

No contest. Kaufman ran past previous record-holder Bo Jackson, who rolled up 221 yards for the Raiders in Seattle on Nov. 30, 1987, and left Davis (85 yards in 23 carries) behind.

“You have to make up your mind to feed him the ball 25 times a game,” Bugel said. “He’s a superstar type of a back, and you got to get him the ball.”

In leaving Davis & Co. behind, Kaufman turned a critical third-and-one situation for the Raiders into an 83-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to build a 28-17 lead. For Kaufman, who led the NFL a year ago with 5.8 yards a rush, it was the seventh time this season he has busted free for a gain of 40 yards or more.

“I was just looking for the first down,” said Kaufman, who had 28 carries for his record-performance. “I looked around and nobody was there. I was happy about that.”

The Raiders also got a boost from their defense, which has consistently let them down this season. In need of a big play, safety Eric Turner scooped up an Elway fumble in the third quarter and erased a 17-14 Denver advantage with a 65-yard touchdown run.

“That was a big turning point,” said Denver Coach Mike Shanahan, who had been 4-0 against his former boss, Al Davis. “But congratulations to the Raiders--they made the big plays when they had to make them.”

As good as the Raiders were--and most of Oakland missed it because the game was blacked out locally--the Broncos still had Elway and his 41 career fourth-quarter comebacks under center. When he found wide receiver Ed McCaffrey wide open for a 28-yard touchdown with 2:15 to play, then completed the two-point play with a handoff to Davis, the Broncos were a field goal away from tying the score.

The Broncos had no timeouts remaining, so the Raiders expected an onside kick like most everyone else in attendance. But on the Denver sideline there was some confusion--and at the very last moment Shanahan opted to kick the ball deep.

If Denver got the ball back, it would be with about 30 seconds to play, but with Elway throwing the ball. On third and 10 at their own 12-yard line, it was the Raiders who went against expectations, and instead of running the ball to take more time off the clock, Jeff George elected to throw to Tim Brown, who made a diving catch for a first down.

Elway would not get a chance to work his magic.

“You have to know who you are playing and this guy has come back and beat us a couple of times, so I’m sure there was some respect for Elway in calling that play,” Brown said. “When the play came in it really shocked us. We just figured we’d run it, and if we didn’t get the first down, just punt it and take our chances. But when we broke the huddle George said, ‘boot,’ and boot means pass, and we couldn’t believe it.”

Shocking, all right, the Raiders defeated the Broncos for the first time since 1994, and after doing so they mocked their rivals with military salutes, stealing Davis’ season-long routine.

“They’re going to pay for that,” said Davis, catching himself and softening the war of words in preparation for a Monday night rematch in Denver on Nov. 24. “I’m charging them $15 each; I got a patent on that.”

Everyone else in the league, meanwhile, now has the formula for beating the Broncos: Run it up the gut, knock the wind out of them and keep Elway off the field.

As for the Raiders, “I made the comment to the guys after the game, remember this feeling,” Brown said. “If we can somehow muster this kind of effort every week, we can win a lot of games. I’m sure people are going to look a little differently at us now after beating the Broncos.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TOP GAMES

Dallas: 26

Jacksonville: 22

Emmitt Smith and Herschel Walker provide the offense the Cowboys needed. C4

N.Y. Jets: 24

New England: 19

Bill Parcells gets even in second game against Patriots. C6

N.Y. Giants: 26

Detroit: (OT) 20

Victory puts the Giants--yes, Giants--into first in NFC East. C6

THE REST